A numerical look at the Wild in the first half

The Wild had a team meeting this morning prior to its 5 p.m. game against the St. Louis Blues. A few guys took the ice, including backup Niklas Backstrom, healthy scratch Zenon Konopka and injured Clayton Stoner. Zach Parise is still not allowed on the ice with his broken foot.

Jared Spurgeon was also on the ice testing his injury and coach Mike Yeo expects him to play. Jon Blum was called up but will be scratched as long as Spurgeon can play, Yeo said.

Josh Harding vs. Brian Elliott tonight. I'd expect David Backes will play in his hometown, but I'll check with him after the Blues' skate. He missed the last Dallas game with an upper-body injury. David Backes is indeed out tonight.

The Blues are 4-0-2 in their past six on the road, 7-1-2 in their past 10 overall and 12-0-1 against the Central this year (unbeaten against the Central since an Oct. 18 shootout loss to Winnipeg).

I'll be on Fox Sports North during the pregame show and first intermission.

If you didn't catch today's story here, I talked to GM Chuck Fletcher about the state of the sinking Wild yesterday. He talked about the team, his attempt to make a trade and also Yeo's job security. While he says his inclination is not to overreact and to give this group a chance to fix things, Fletcher declined to give Yeo a vote of confidence.

The entire coaching staff is in the final year of its contract. The rest of this homestand is huge. There is no doubt Yeo is on the hot seat.

Michael Russo has covered the National Hockey League since 1995. He has covered the Minnesota Wild for the Star Tribune since 2005, after 10 years of covering the Florida Panthers for the Sun-Sentinel. He uses “Russo’s Rants” to feed a wide-ranging hockey-centric discussion with readers, and can be heard weekly on KFAN (100.3 FM) radio and seen weekly on Fox Sports North.